600 QA workers at Microsoft-owned Activision form the largest gaming union in North America
Quality assurance employees at Activision unionize under Microsoft, joining existing unions at ZeniMax Media and Blizzard Albany.
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What you need to know
Activision employees just formed the largest gaming union in North America.
Around 600 quality assurance (QA) employees at Microsoft Gaming’s Activision division have unionized at of Friday, forming Activision Quality Assurance United - CWA with assistance from the Communication Workers of America (CWA). The union includes workers from California, Minnesota, and Texas in the U.S, encompassing people that work on Activision franchises likeCall of Duty.
The union was voluntarily recognized by Microsoft, and is now the largest union under Microsoft, joining the existing unions at Raven Software, Blizzard Albany, andZeniMax Media, meaning over 1,000 QA workers are now unionized under Microsoft.
Speaking withPolygon, Activision QA tester Kara Fannon noted that Microsoft trained managers on maintaining neutrality toward unions, ensuring that the employees voting on the matter didn’t have worry about union-busting.
Microsoft’s recent history of neutrality toward unions continues
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Microsoft has eschewed union-busting tactics assumed by many other corporations ever since 2022, when the company signed an extensive neutrality deal as part of its successful bid to acquire Activision Blizzard for $69 billion.
The first test of this agreement came in 2023, when over 300 quality assurance testers at Bethesda Softworks parent company ZeniMax Media — acquired by Microsoft for $8.1 billion in March 2021 — formed ZeniMax Workers United.
Microsoft recognized the union, which includes testers at teams like Arkane Austin, Bethesda Game Studios, and id Software, and Microsoft has since worked with the union on multiple occasions,hiring additional Starfield testers as full-time employeesandreaching tentative agreements on the role of AIin game development.
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Analysis: Fantastic news
The first couple of months for this year have been rough, with thousands of workers laid off acrossElectronic Arts,Microsoft,Sony,Riot Games, andmany,many,manymore. So seeing positive news like this is a huge breath of fresh air.
These workers never would’ve been able to unionize with this kind of ease without the Microsoft acquisition, and hopefully their work can help inspire other teams to unionize, both at other Microsoft-owned gaming divisions and elsewhere across the industry.
Samuel Tolbert is a freelance writer covering gaming news, previews, reviews, interviews and different aspects of the gaming industry, specifically focusing on Xbox and PC gaming on Windows Central. You can find him on Twitter@SamuelTolbert.
